High school musicals: Pocono-area teachers, students put passion into shows

Friday

Mar 26, 2010 at 12:01 AM

Spring high school musicals are in full bloom, offering an inexpensive Broadway-style night out as well as life-long lessons for students. Eight Pocono area high schools offer seven shows during March and April.

MELANIE VANDERVEER

Spring high school musicals are in full bloom, offering an inexpensive Broadway-style night out as well as life-long lessons for students.

Eight area high schools offer seven shows during March and April.

"My co-director and I chose 'The Secret Garden' because it's very different than the shows we've been doing. We felt we had students with the vocal ability this year," said Sue Jordan, co-director at East Stroudsburg High School South. "It's a play with more music than dialogue, and it's a much more serious kind of play. It requires a lot of thought and emotion on the parts of the students."

Senior Dominic Lapadula, who started performing in school plays in eighth grade, has learned a lot. "Acting was something I was always unsure of. I thought I couldn't sing, but found out that I could," he said. "I was shy in the beginning, but not anymore. Being on stage helps with public speaking and presentations."

Lapadula plays the part of Archibald Craven in "The Secret Garden." "It's fun working with everybody. I like creating other characters," Lapadula said. "It's been fun playing a miserable person. It's fun to be someone you're not. My character is a lonely man living in a big mansion. My character is just a miserable person."

This year's show includes more students than ever before, with 37 students in the cast, 10 in the orchestra, a student producer and a tech crew. "We rehearse three to four times a week, and started before Christmas because of the amount of music in the show. It's a big undertaking for a high school student, so we challenged them with this show," Jordan said.

Tenth-grader Gabbie Sorensen said the hardest part is remembering all the lines. "It goes back and forth — sometimes it can wear down on you, but in the end it pays off. When you look back on it, you can say you did it," she said. "It makes you feel connected and part of a big family."

Sorensen got involved in last year's production on a whim.

"There was a part of a little boy they had trouble filling, so I decided to audition for it and I got the part," she said. "I've done two plays but wasn't a central lead. This play I am playing a central lead part."

Notre Dame High School also had a large cast with 28 actors and actresses and 55 students working backstage and in the makeup room for "13! The New Musical!"

"The play is about 12-year-olds becoming 13. It's about all the pressures they go through," said Ann Mullen, director. "It's about what they are going through on their level."

There are only 13 characters in the Broadway show, but Mullen found a way to include more students by adding more parts.

Rehearsals began in December and were four times a week. "It's student-run. And you won't hear them complaining about it," Mullen said. "Adults designed the sets, but the kids painted them and did fundraising."

Student stage manager Christina Schott said, "We've learned a lot of responsibilities, and it's helped us grow a lot. We learned about friendship and individuality."

This was Schott's fourth year as a stage manager. No adults are backstage on production nights, so the stage managers have to make sure all goes smoothly.

Friendship is a huge deal, too. Senior Dan Mullen has been in three other plays where he met his best friends. "It's my life. Athletes can't wait for basketball or baseball season, and we can't wait for play season. It's a lot of hard work, but it's fun. Almost all my best friends and I met doing the play."

Fellow actor Mandy Shiner, also a senior, said, "I've been performing since second grade. I've always really enjoyed it. The best part of performing is it's very energizing being on stage and performing in front of my family and friends, and hearing their reactions after."

Senior Christine Warne has a different job: "I am the junior dance choreographer. I had to learn all the dances even though I'm not in all of them. I taught the dances and helped out when anyone needed it."

Warne has been dancing since she was 2 years old, and said that being in the play with close friends has been amazing. "It was a great experience learning all that goes into a production," Warne said.

With most schools having large casts, Pocono Mountain West took a different approach.

"We have a six-person cast," said Eileen Biel, director. "We are doing 'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.' This is my first time directing, and I felt I could handle this play. It is also the 60th anniversary for the comic strip this year, so it was a nice tie-in."

Biel said with just six people in the cast, everyone had to be serious. "We relied on everyone to be at every rehearsal," Biel said. "We have a strong cast with strong singers."

Senior Brianna Storm plays the role of Sally. She said, "It's a little show with a little cast. It's the most intimate thing I've done in my musical career, and it's turning out real well. The cast is a close-knit cast, and that's so important with a small cast. It's good for younger kids and people of all ages who grew up knowing Charlie Brown."

Dan Mulligan, co-director at Pleasant Valley High School, is not new to the high school musical scene. After a hiatus, he and his wife, Marcie, began directing again with "Grease."

"Coming back to directing, we wanted to do a production that would draw a lot of people and a lot of energy," Mulligan said. "The cast allowed a lot of students, but wasn't dependent on anyone to carry the show. Coming back, we had no idea what the talent was going to be this year."

Mulligan has been doing this for 18 years. He said he isn't trying to turn anyone into a star.

"We give the kids the opportunity to do something exciting. We teach confidence and stage presence. They can use that in any career they choose," Mulligan said. "We hear from students that have gone on to careers how being on the stage translated into their job. We teach students how to come out of their shells and for the student that may not have a niche, this might be it."

For Chris Connelly, director at Bangor Area High School, spring musical season is over. The school's production of "White Christmas" by Irving Berlin ended in early March. Cast members began rehearsals in October and had to learn something that many of the other schools' actors did not.

"The kids spent one day a week in October learning how to tap dance," Connelly said.

Connelly said he chose this production because it had a lot of opportunities for the kids, and the show is for all ages. It was a premier in Lehigh Valley schools.

"We had four performances, and it went very well," he said. "One week before the show opened, our new theater opened, making it a little more exciting."

Next year, Connelly is hoping to do two productions. "I am hoping to do a fall production and a spring production," he said. "I try to pick the show before we leave for graduation, so the kids have the summer to prepare. Auditions will begin in the beginning of the year."

East Stroudsburg High School South, 279 N. Courtland St., East Stroudsburg

A secret garden that has been locked up for years is discovered by Mary, who begins caring for it. The garden and Mary experience a great transformation. Mary uncovered another secret, her cousin who believed he was incurable, bedridden and destined to die. Mary hoped that by taking Colin to the garden he would learn to love the garden and its magic would work wonders on him.

When: 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday.

Cost: $9 for adults, $7 for seniors, and $5 for students.

Pleasant Valley High School, Route 209, Brodheadsville

When wholesome Sandy and greaser Danny fall in love over the summer, they never expect to see each other again. But when they both discover that they're now attending the same high school, social differences challenge their romance.

When: 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday.

Cost: $8 for adults, and $5 for students.

East Stroudsburg High School North, Maple Lane, Dingmans Ferry

Musical about high school sub-culture in the '50s and the relationship between gang frontman Danny and good-girl Sandy and how their friends and social differences challenge their romance.

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 9, and Saturday, April 10; and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 11

Cost: $9 for adults, $7 for seniors, $5 for students.

Pocono Mountain High School East, Pocono Mountain School Road, Swiftwater

Belle, a girl dissatisfied with life in a small provincial French town, is constantly trying to fend off the misplaced "affections" of conceited Gaston. The Beast is a prince who was placed under a spell because he could not love. A wrong turn taken by Belle's father causes the two to meet.

When: 7 p.m., today and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday.

Cost: $8 general admission.

Stroudsburg High School, 1100 W. Main St., Stroudsburg

A play-within-a-play where each cast member's on-stage life is complicated by what is happening offstage: divorce, romance and misunderstandings.

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 9, and Saturday, April 10, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 11

Cost: $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $8 for students.

Pocono Mountain High School West, Route 940, Pocono Summit

Charlie Brown stands alone as his friends give their various opinions of him, each overlapping the other. Today everyone is calling him a "good man." Charlie Brown is happy and hopeful as usual, but he nevertheless wonders if he really is what they say. He decides to find out how he can really become a good person.

The classic fairy tale story of Belle, continually pursued by the conceited Gaston. In searching for her missing father, she crosses paths with the Beast, who is actually a prince with a spell cast upon him. The only way Beast can be turned back to a prince is to have someone fall in love with who he really is. The characters show the importance of seeing people for who they are, rather than what they are.

When: 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 30, and Saturday, May 1, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 2.

Cost: $5 general admission available at the JTL main office and at the door for all performances.